The industry saw another example of the thin line between social gaming and a potential cross-over to online gambling in Socialitize Ltd’s launch of a new social betting game 2BET2 on Facebook this week.

The new game for Facebook users in essence provides players with an online sportsbook betting on current real-life sporting events using BB$, the game’s virtual currency.

Players are able to bet on global sports events against the house or against one another using betting odds derived in the same way as a conventional sportsbook on all major sports including Football (League and College), Basketball (Association and College), Hockey, Baseball, 25 different European Football leagues, Rugby Union/League, Cricket, Tennis and Golf.

Socialitize’s chief executive officer Adrian Brink is well versed in the real world of online gambling having established internet lotteries during his tenure as lottery director at Inter Lotto, a charitable foundation licensed by the Lichtenstein government in 1995 and various other positions within the industry.

“I saw an opportunity to provide a betting experience to the millions of sporting fans in jurisdictions where conventional sports betting is illegal or unavailable,” said Brink. “We have tried to remain true to the style and form of more normal sports books while at the same time adding these great social hooks. While we may not achieve the level of monetisation as the large bookmakers, we are well positioned to achieve far greater levels of player participation.”

“Users love the social betting hooks within the game,” added Brink. “By showing players their friends’ bets and allowing them to taunt or respect these bets we achieve a level of social interaction far higher than one sees in many other Facebook games. This – together with the Challenge-a-Friend functionality – really brings home the difference between 2BET2 and other betting games.”